Sophocles : An Outline Introduciton

3.
• The second tragic poet of Athens
 Was born about 495 B.C. in the village
of Colonus.
Received an excellent education and had
a position in the best Athenian society.
• Early career: won applause as not only a
poet, but also an actor

4.
• Made two important innovations in the
dramatic art.
The introduction of the third actor.
The use of painted scenery.
• A true representative of the age of
Pericles.
Stood nearer to Aeschylus than to
Euripides.
Fine aristocracy of culture between 460
to 430 B.C.

6.
• Characters written by Sophocles
Laid greater stress upon the individual and his motives and
irresistible law.
Are accordingly more human, though they are still heroic.
The development of character can be noted during the progress
of action.

7.
• The plays by Sophocles
The details are more carefully studied, both as regards to the
plot and the language.
Under an apparent simplicity lies a subtlety of thought and a
carefully studied adjustment of parts that only profound study
and sympathy will reveal.
• The best of his tragedies are unsurpassed.

9.
• The Ajax (about 440 B.C.)
• The Electra (date uncertain)
• The Philoctetes (won the first prize in 409 B.C.)
• The Women of Trachis (about 420 B.C.)
• The three plays on the fate of the house of Labdacus
Oedipus the King (about 430 B.C.)
Oedipus at Colonus (about 406 B.C.)
Antigone (about 441 B.C.)

11.
• The characters of Aeschylus
The actions are governed largely by destiny, and are heroic in
the first place.
The fate of the characters was already fixed in the legends of
which the poet made use.
Aeschylus endeavors to show how their fate was worked out
under the universal laws established by the gods.
A sort of fatalism that less stress could be laid upon the
operation of human motives in the individual.

12.
• Traits of Euripides
The poet of the extreme democracy.
Stood for entirely different ideals.
• Traits of Aeschylus
Early manhood fell in the stirring times in which Athens
wrestled first with the tyranny for political freedom, and then
with the Persian Empire for her very existence.
Was of the more rugged type, sturdily striving to maintain the
older ideals both in politics and in religion